World Cafe

5:08 pm

Thu August 15, 2013

Mikal Cronin's second solo album, MCII, contains more of his delightful, frequently dazzling, guitar-drenched pop-rock. Originally from Southern California, Cronin wrote his first record in response to making the post-college move to San Francisco. The new album is more about what happened when he got there and started playing in Ty Segall's band.

On this episode of World Cafe, Cronin sits down to chat with host David Dye and play a few songs with his band live in the studio.

World Cafe

1:14 pm

Wed August 14, 2013

Daughn Gibson is the alter ego of Pennsylvania singer-songwriter Josh Martin. The former stoner-rock drummer took on his nom de plume as an homage to country legend Don Gibson, which makes sense: Martin's life thus far sounds like a country song. He's worked behind the counter in an adult book store, poured tall ones as a bartender and worked as a long-haul trucker.

World Cafe

5:03 pm

Tue August 13, 2013

On this episode, Martha Wainwright joins us to talk about her late mother, Kate McGarrigle, and to sing us some of McGarrigle's songs.

McGarrigle, who died after a battle with cancer in January 2011, made a series of wonderful albums with her sister Anna during a career that spanned decades, beginning with their self-titled debut in 1975. The duo is probably best known for its cover of Linda Ronstadt's "Heart Like a Wheel."

World Cafe

5:03 pm

Tue August 13, 2013

British soul singer Alice Russell has one of those voices that fills up a room. Over the course of five studio albums, she's been compared to Chaka Khan and the late Amy Winehouse, and performed with the likes of David Byrne and Fatboy Slim.

Her latest album is titled To Dust, which she celebrated in April by performing a sold-out show at World Cafe Live, the concert venue next door to the World Cafe studios. In this episode, we spotlight the best recordings from that concert and speak with Russell about what it's like to let loose on stage.

Out of the Toronto music community comes New Country Rehab, an alt-country band that just released its second album, Ghost Of Your Charms.

The foursome, led by singer and fiddle player John Showman, combine a bluegrass aesthetic with some really strong songwriting chops. We love their song "Luxury Hotel," which may make you think differently about your summer vacation spot.

In this edition of Latin Roots, Catalina Maria Johnson, from the Chicago-based program Beat Latino, plays music from Colombia's coastal areas where most of the country's Afro-Colombia population lives. The Pacific coastline is dominated by the sound of marimba. Johnson plays a traditional example from Grupo Naidy, and then we get to hear how Herencia De Tabiqui puts a younger, more contemporary spin on that tradition.

World Cafe

12:58 pm

Fri August 9, 2013

After working together for more than a decade, the members of Stockholm's Shout Out Louds continue to make lush, highly melodic pop music. The product of a year and a half of tinkering, their recent Optica is significantly lighter-sounding than its predecessors.

On this installment of World Cafe, hear the group discuss how it navigated new musical experiments on the album, and how all of its members finally came to agree on how Optica should sound.

Thu August 8, 2013

Pete Yorn has long had a way with hooky rock songs, so it was easy for him to connect with fellow L.A. musician J.D. King over a mutual love for '60s music. The two first started recording together just for fun, blending folk-rock and subtle psychedelia into a joint project they call The Olms.

When Telekinesis' Michael Benjamin Lerner plays live, he sings from behind his drum set, but he plays almost all the instruments on his albums. The power-pop multi-instrumentalist recorded his latest record, Dormarion, at Spoon drummer Jim Eno's house — fittingly located on Dormarion Lane.